Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail | |
---|---|
Length | 45 mi (72 km) |
Location | Pinellas County, Florida |
Trailheads | |
Use | Shared-use for walking and cycling |
Difficulty | Easy to moderate |
Season | Year round |
Hazards | Crime, weather, at-grade pedestrian crossing at vehicular thoroughfares |
Trail map | |
Pinellas Trail highlighted in green |
The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail is a rail trail in Pinellas County, Florida. It stretches from Tarpon Springs in the north to St. Petersburg in the south, passing through the towns of Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Belleair, Clearwater, Largo, Seminole, South Pasadena, and Gulfport. It is utilized for walking, jogging, and cycling. Some trail users are able to commute to work using the Pinellas Trail instead of a motor vehicle.
The distance that the main trail currently covers is 47 miles (76 km). [1]
The Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) and the Seaboard Air Line (SAL) railroads both served St. Petersburg and Clearwater for many years. They merged in 1967 to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL), which consolidated the existing infrastructure. After the SCL joined CSX Transportation in the 1980s, 34 miles (55 km) of trackage in Pinellas County was abandoned, and purchased by the Florida Department of Transportation. After voter approval, the county acquired the property and began construction of the Pinellas Trail.
The first 5 miles (8.0 km) opened in December 1990, linking John S. Taylor Park in Largo to Seminole City Park in Seminole. With the passage of the first Penny for Pinellas one-cent local option sales tax, plans were made to construct additional segments along the former railroad corridor.
The Pinellas Trail is named after Fred Marquis, a former Pinellas County Administrator who served from 1979 until 2000.
The Pinellas Trail is composed of the following railroad segments:
As of June 2022, the Pinellas Trail Loop will extend to 75 miles (121 km) in length. As of April 2023 [update] , 63 miles (101 km) of the 75 miles (121 km) of the Pinellas Trail Loop (including the Pinellas Trail itself and connecting trails) circling Pinellas County are complete. The connecting trails that will be part of the completed loop include the Duke Energy Trail and the St Petersburg North Bay Trail. [2]
Unlike most rail-trails that traverse rural countrysides, the Pinellas Trail travels through several urban areas.
When traveling through some of the neighborhoods in sections of St. Petersburg and Tarpon Springs, trail users are encouraged to be cautious. In Clearwater, the same warning applies; trail users may have the right-of-way in areas with minimal vehicular traffic, but they do not when the trail crosses a major artery such as State Road 60.
Pasco County is located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the 2020 census, the population was 561,691. Its county seat is Dade City, and its largest city is Zephyrhills. The county is named after Samuel Pasco.
Pinellas County is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107, which makes it the seventh-most populous county in the state. It is also the most densely populated county in Florida, with 3,491 residents per square mile. The county is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area. Clearwater is the county seat. St. Petersburg is the largest city in the county, as well as the largest city in Florida that is not a county seat.
Dunedin is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area and is the fifth largest city in Pinellas County. The population was 36,068 as of the 2020 census.
The Tampa Bay area is a major metropolitan area surrounding Tampa Bay on the Gulf Coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of 3,175,275 as of the 2020 U.S. Census.
The Florida Suncoast is a local marketing name for the west-central peninsular Florida coastal area, also sometimes known as Florida's Beach communities. The region contains nearly 150 miles (240 km) of Gulf of Mexico beaches and the warm, sunny winter climate attracts tourists from across the US, Canada, and Europe. The name comes from the coast receiving the most days of sunshine per year.
St. Petersburg College (SPC) is a public college in Pinellas County, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and one of the institutions in the system designated a "state college," as it offers a greater number of bachelor's degrees than traditional community colleges focused on associate degrees. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and enrolled about 29,000 students in the fall of 2018.
Timeline of Pinellas County, Florida history.
Withlacoochee State Trail is a 46-mile (74 km) long paved, multi-use, non-motorized rail trail in Florida located in Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties. It follows along the Withlacoochee River and passes through the Withlacoochee State Forest. It is the longest paved rail trail in Florida.
U.S. Highway 19 Alternate is a 37.114-mile (59.729 km) former section of US 19 from St. Petersburg to Holiday, Florida.
The Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) in Florida which extends from Marco Island on the south, to Brooksville on the north, and inland to Plant City, Arcadia and LaBelle on the east. As part of the ECUSA, the diocese is a constituent member of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
West Central Florida Council was the former Boy Scouts of America Council serving Pinellas County and west Pasco County in Florida, between 1917–2016. It merged with Gulf Ridge Council to form the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council on May 1, 2016.
St. Petersburg station was a passenger train station in St. Petersburg, Florida. Located northwest of downtown, its former address was 3601 31st Street North, though access to the site is now only from 37th Avenue North.
The Orange Belt Railway was a 3 ft narrow gauge railroad established in 1885 by Russian exile Peter Demens in Florida. It was one of the longest narrow gauge railroads in the United States at the time of its completion in 1888, with a mainline 152 miles (245 km) in length between Sanford and St. Petersburg. It carried citrus, vegetables, and passengers; and it interchanged with two standard gauge lines: the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway at Lake Monroe, and the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad at Lacoochee.
The Tarpon Springs Depot is a former railroad depot built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1909, located in downtown Tarpon Springs, Florida at 160 East Tarpon Avenue within the Tarpon Springs Historic District.
The Dunedin History Museum is a local history museum located in downtown Dunedin in the U.S. state of Florida. Founded in 1970, the museum is housed in a former railroad depot built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1924. The former rail line that serviced the depot, originally built by the Orange Belt Railway in 1888 and last used for a series of special excursion trips from nearby Tarpon Springs and back on March 8, 1987, was converted into a section of the Pinellas Trail in the 1990s. The museum contains more than 2,000 artifacts, 2,500 photographs, and a library of books that convey a great deal of information on Dunedin's past. The museum provides special programming for schools and summer camps as well as a rotating special exhibit gallery.
Greater Tampa Bay Area Council serves Scouts in West-Central Florida with the council headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Youth are served in the following nine counties: Citrus, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sumter. Greater Tampa Bay Area Council was formed on May 1, 2016 by the merger of Gulf Ridge Council with West Central Florida Council.
The Clearwater Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. The line begins just east of downtown Tampa in Gary and heads north through some of Tampa's suburban neighborhoods. In Sulphur Springs, the Clearwater Subdivision turns and runs west through Oldsmar, where it crosses Tampa Bay. It briefly shifts south running through Safety Harbor, and then heads west again to Clearwater. In Clearwater, it turns southeast, running through Largo and Pinellas Park before terminating at Fifth Avenue North in St. Petersburg near Tropicana Field. The distance from Gary to St. Petersburg along the line is 48.6 miles (78.2 km). At the line's north end it continues from the Tampa Terminal Subdivision and at its south end the track comes to an end.
The Tampa and Gulf Coast Railroad (T&G) was a railroad company in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida in the United States. It initially built and operated a line that ran from the Tampa Northern Railroad main line in Lutz west to Tarpon Springs and into Pasco County. Additional track starting from Sulphur Springs running west towards Clearwater and south to St. Petersburg was built shortly after. The railroad was informally known as the "Tug n' Grunt". While it was the second railroad to serve St. Petersburg and Clearwater after the Orange Belt Railway, it had the advantage of being the first to connect the area directly with Tampa.
Clearwater station was an Amtrak train station in Clearwater, Florida, served by the Floridian until 1979 and the Silver Service until February 1, 1984. Thereafter, it continued to be used for Amtrak Thruway motor coach service until 1995, connecting to Amtrak Silver Service trains at Tampa Union Station.